The idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk (synthesis of the arts) is a brainchild of German Romanticism. Long before, philosopher Eusebius Trahndorff (1827) and Richard Wagner (1849) coined the term, however, a young Hamburg painter from Hamburg broke new grounds in the understanding of art: Philipp Otto Runge (1777–1810) was driven by the vision of fusing visual art with poetry, music and architecture. Mainly, he expressed his universal ideas through fragile paintings, drawings and silhouettes, which is also the reason why the work of the young genius is rarely on show. For more information, visit hypo-kunsthalle.de.